Facebook launches iPhone and Android messenger App

Facebook Messenger, the standalone iPhone and Android app, has been launched in the USA. Users can send instant messages to their Facebook friends and smartphone address book contacts through this app.

Those users that have the main Facebook app or this app get the messages through notification and those who don’t receive messages in the form of texts.

Beluga, a startup acquired by Facebook this March, has delivered the technology for this service. Lucy Zhang, co-founder of Beluga, has posted her blog on Facebook explaining that the thinking behind this app is that someone should be able to write a message, click on send and have it instantly delivered to the person they want to.

This app is an alternative to Apple’s upcoming iMessage and message apps like BBM and cross-platform apps like Kik and WhatApp Messenger. Google+ also has a dedicated feature called Huddle that is used for group messaging.